10 Amazing Reader Builds From Popular Mechanics Plans

For more than a century, one of PM's staples has been publishing detailed project plans for our readers. But with the advent of the Web, readers could not only find our entire digitized archive online, but also post the results of their builds from PM plans to YouTube, Flickr or elsewhere. Here are some photos and videos of the best projects built with, or inspired by, plans from old issues of Popular Mechanics.

1
A Century of DIY

"Aeroplane Built From Magazine Description." That was the humble headline 100 years ago, when Popular Mechanics ran a photo of an airplane two Massachusetts men built based on plans printed in the magazine the previous year. A century later, PopMech still loves DIY aviation—our October cover story is about how to build your own plane. And PM readers are still building projects based on, or inspired by, plans printed in the magazine.

Today's readers have a 110-year catalog of Popular Mechanics plans to pick from. And they have something else those 1911 plane-building Massachusetts men didn't have: YouTube. The guys who built Demoiselle back then had to send in their photo to have it run in PopMech, but today's DIYers can record their builds and upload them for the world to appreciate. Here are some of best PM builds we found.

2
1970 LeGrand

Iowan Glenn LeGrand constructed this bright orange machine, a pure electric vehicle built on top of a VW Beetle. LeGrand passed away a few years ago, but a decades-old Des Moines Register article about him says that he based part of "the LeGrand" on old Popular Mechanics plans. This fluorescent, insect-looking electric car made the rounds on some car and tech blogs this summer when it was spotted for sale on eBay.

The wild exterior is made of formed Plexiglass. There's panel on the side of the car where you'd expect the gas cap to be, but when you flip open the cover on the LeGrand it reveals the electrical port to plug it in. This homemade EV has a radio and headlights; its door and windows are removable. Its 12 batteries provide a range of about 50 miles—amazing for 1975, and about the same as modern pure EVs. The old Register article says that LeGrand worked on his car from 1970 to 1975.

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3
VW Beetle Camper

Speaking of Beetle hacks, Terry Woolen spotted this build. "I was blown away when I saw it at the Fall Classic held in Bishop, Calif.," he wrote in an email to PM.

4
Tom Thumb Bike

In his video, YouTube user Hodokaguy records the full process of building a Tom Thumb minibike, featured in the January 1970 Popular Mechanics. In the original story, author Gene Schatzlein says he built it with a three-quarter-hp O & R engine, and that the tiny bike could make 11 mph. Forty years later, these guys used the same engine in their build. They flash pictures of the plans during the video, but you can check out the complete plans here in the January 1970 issue.

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5
Lunchbox Radio

A classic metal lunchbox can do more than carry your sandwich in style. It could become the 1950s version of a boombox.

The June 1950 Popular Mechanics contained plans for what the editors called a Portable Knockabout Super, a four-tube radio "specifically designed for vacation days at the beach, camping, boating or other outdoor use." YouTube user Batterymaker held on to those plans and built the Knockabout Super—he even found the same model lunchbox on eBay that PM used in the original plans six decades ago.

6
Hand-Built Canoe

It's one of the best letters PM has received this year: Bob Feighner of Findlay, Ohio, sent us these pictures of his canoe, and wrote: "About 30 years ago I started to build a 16-foot canoe from a set of plans that were published in a 1938 Popular Mechanics magazine and reprinted in 1980. After a few weeks of work on the canoe my family and I relocated and I stopped working on the canoe until this past winter. This spring, I finished the canoe."

7
Midget Trailer

This surprisingly roomy midget trailer we found on YouTube, built by Bob and Lynn Klope of Squaw Valley, Calif., was based on plans PM published back in 1940. Though the plans called for the trailer to be just 9 x 6 feet, it "provides sleeping quarters for two adults on a full-size bed, besides storage room for six to eight cots or sleeping bags."

This build wasn't one for the uncommitted. PM said the materials would cost about $125 on average—and that's $125 in 1940 dollars.

8
The PM 38

In August 1962, PopMech published boat plans with three simple claims: You could build the watercraft in 38 hours, for $38, and do 38 mph. So, the magazine tagged it the PM 38.

Mark Reynolds's father built one of these boats in the 1960s, and then in 2009, he decided to do it himself. The Harpers Ferry, Va., resident wrote up a full account of his build, and of taking the DIY PM 38 for a test run on the Potomac River.

Mark Reynolds

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9
Tabletop Steam Boiler

These days Popular Mechanics tends toward simpler projects in our pages—the kinds of things a handy person could build in an afternoon. But back in the 1960s, detailed plans often were divided between two issues. In January and February of 1963, PM published the plans for a desktop-size working steam engine.

YouTube user jds44 built this project. When he opens a valve you can see the scorching hot steam come pouring out.